January 19, 2018, will be a significant date for research at Illinois State University. That is the effective date for a number of changes regarding human subjects research.

In January 2017, President Barack Obama’s administration issued a change to 45 CFR Part 46, also known as the Common Rule. These changes are meant to ease the burden on researchers by making changes to exempt categories and allowing institutions to stop reviewing some research. Institutions were given until January 19, 2018, to comply with these changes. Additional information is now available.

Based on feedback from researchers and recommendations of the 2016 IRB Task Force, the University is planning some internal changes that will simplify the review process for research involving human subjects. Some of those changes are as follows:

Streamlined exempt determination process

No longer requiring a department representative review (some departments may retain their current process)